"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

Points to Ponder ...

"My children may bicker, and I may—almost certainly will—complain. But the bickering and the griping are chaff, and what’s left when the winds of time carry them away are the golden kernels I want to savor..."
--Melissa Wiley

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February 11, 2009

A Day in Lourdes

[She] was clothed in a white garment with a blue sash. There were golden roses at her feet. Her face was sweet and full of smiles. A rosary was in her hand. -- Rev. Edward Lodge Curran, Great Moments in Catholic History

The children and I enjoyed a number of fun activities in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes today, inspired mostly by ideas offered at Catholic Cuisine.

We began our day reading The Miracle of Lourdes chapter in Great Moments in Catholic History, a sweetly-written gem of a book from days gone by. The quote above was so descriptive that the children were inspired to make drawings of Our Lady! While they were drawing, I put together the ingredients for Jessica's Blueberry Muffins, with the idea that we'd discuss and re-enact some of St. Bernadette's story as we made -- and then, later, ate -- them, inspired by a few creative comments on that recipe post.

It turned out to be a lot of fun! We used the crumb topping to symbolize the dirt that St. Bernadette dug in at Our Lady's command, looking for the famous healing spring; and made a filling of sugared berries to hide in the center of the muffin. This made for a very fun lunch, as the children "dug" into their muffins looking for the juicy spring!

Our muffin lunch was rounded out with more berries atop freshly made yogurt, and a treat of blue kool-aid to drink (I keep this stuff around for making brightly-colored playdoh; but for an occasion like this, why not indulge?) :)

Later, I saw another post by the awesome Jessica, this time on making a grotto of rice krispie treats! Amazingly enough, there were marshmallows in the cupboard -- so we put other plans aside and got right to it. Jessica used fruity pebbles -- and if you haven't seen her results, you should click over there right now and take a look. She is truly amazing! We had no fruity pebbles, but we did have grotto-ish looking Cocoa Puffs and Jumbo Rice Krispies on hand! Our treats did not hold up as well as Jessica's -- the poor Blessed Mother had to be rescued from a falling grotto roof more than once -- but it was still fun to make!

Bernadette is digging in the dirt, looking for the spring. We actually tried to get her to kneel, but her skirt wouldn't allow it! She is not doing push-ups. :)

Junie B. had the brilliant idea of putting her Polly Pockets to work as actresses, portraying St. Bernadette and the Blessed Mother to fine effect. Ms. Pocket-as-St. Bernadette took time from her busy hair-teasing schedule to pose for a photo shoot. The Chief pointed out that she appeared to be auditioning for her next role as Joan of Arc ... :)

Bedtime snack of Sweet Grotto Rocks to the strains of Immaculate Mary, for a delightful end to our day.

Welcome to My Blog!

We are a Catholic homeschooling family of 7, a blend of step children, bio children and adoptees, making our way to heaven the best way we know how! Here's a record of our journey, with thoughts on anything we care about--mostly homeschooling, faith and finding a way to make it all work for each of us. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your visit!